Filter Creams

Forget social media filters, Korean makeup is making it possible to achieve picture-perfect skin in real life. Hannah Hatcher, global educator for Jane Iredale Cosmetics, tells us, “Thanks to Snapchat, we all want to look like we have that flower crown filter on at all times. These creams will act like a typical moisturizer, but help blur out any imperfections and leave the skin looking dewy and well-filtered. They achieve this look by incorporating ingredients that have some luminosity to them, like pearl powders or pearl extracts.” Lioele Gold Snail BB Cream ($38), for example, uses gold extracts and snail mucin to blur imperfections and heal skin.

Jamsu

Jamsu isn’t a product, it’s a technique. And it’s one that the experts say has the potential to become as big as contouring or baking. Jamsu stands for “diving” or “submerging” and describes the process of setting makeup by dunking your face in an ice bath. Really. To achieve the look, apply foundation and concealer followed by baby powder, then submerge your face in an ice bath for around 10 to 30 seconds.

Solid Soap Sticks

Korean beauty popularized the waterless trend and now Anna-Marie Solowij, co-founder of BeautyMART, tells us to look out for “soapy sticks” or solid cleansers. “These solid balm sticks contain no water, but when used on wet skin, suds up to cleanse. Brands [with solid cleansers] include SU:M37, Belif and Boscia,” she says. Belif The True Tincture Cleansing Stick ($28) provides a gentle cleanse thanks to chamomile flowers and also helps to reduce redness and dryness.

Lip Powders

There are several types of lip formulations on the market, from lip oils to creamy lipsticks. You can now add lip powders to the list, thanks to Korean makeup brands. The products start off as a powder but become creamy upon application. Despite the name, they do not give lips a powdery finish. Instead, they leave behind a light-as-air matte pigment. Solowij recommends RiRe’s lip powders, but Touch In Sol and CLE have their own versions. Sephora has even released its own line of Lip Powders ($12).

New Cushions

Fans of cushion compacts can soon fill their entire makeup bags with cushion applicators. Cushion technology has expanded beyond foundation and powders into eyeshadows, lip products and more. And one of the latest innovations has to do with the cushion itself. Missha recently launched The Original Tension Pact ($25), which the company says is “the first of its kind and the next generation of cushion compacts.” Densely woven tension nets filter foundation evenly for light and superior coverage. Keep an eye out for other products that are focused on the actual cushion as much as the formula inside.

10-Step Scalp Care

K-beauty lovers know that a 10-step cleansing regimen is the secret to flawless skin, and now, according to Solowij, this philosophy is expanding into hair care. “Your scalp is skin too, and the K-beauty obsession with skin care is starting to filter through to the hair and scalp, with hair essences and hair waters making their way into the standard routine of exfoliators, masks, oils, cleansers, serums, and more,” she says. For those who haven’t yet tried them, scalp exfoliators are a good place to start because they are available from Korean and Western beauty brands. There are also essences and waters available, such as the Skinfood Argan Oil Silk Hair Essence ($14) from Korean beauty site Soko Glam.

Natural and Clean Ingredients

The entire beauty industry has really started focusing on natural ingredients and Korean beauty is definitely part of the shift. Jillian Wright, celebrity esthetician and co-founder of Indie Beauty Expo, says, “Korean beauty isn’t all glitz, glamour and weird ingredients and applications. In fact, K-beauty is entering the natural realm with more innovative product offerings and ingredients that are cleaner.” She cites brands like Children of Stars, AKAR and Whamisa as leaders of the trend. K-beauty site Glow Recipe makes it easy to find clean options because it only stocks natural products like the Whamisa Organic Sea Kelp Facial Sheet Mask ($14).

Superior Fit Sheet Masks

There are also innovations in terms of formulas and materials. Natural Korean skin care site Glow Recipe recently curated a double layered mask. The Make P:rem Firming Layering Double Mask ($9) contains two separate sheet masks that are meant to be layered. Tension fibers help to visibly lift the face and allow the product to absorb into skin better.

Superior Fit Sheet Masks

Additionally, Soko Glam recently began stocking a knitted mask. The Neogen White Truffle Hydramax Knit Mask ($6) is made out of a knitted material that helps the mask adhere to the face and neck better, increasing product absorption and effectiveness.

Anti-Pollution Products

Pollution can wreak havoc on skin. Cho Hee Jung, online business team assistant manager for Vitabrid C12, says anti-pollution products are in high demand. “With increasing environmental pollution and levels of fine dust, anti-pollution skin care management is on the rise. People are looking for more products that can protect the skin from environmental factors and cleanse the dirt trapped in pores.” Look out for anti-pollution products in a variety of forms, including serums, day creams and even sheet masks like the Laneige Anti-Pollution Sheet Mask ($5.89).

Gucci may be the hottest thing on the runway (especially those ubiquitous loafers), but in the beauty world, it’s all about Korean beauty products. Sheet masks have gone from creepy-looking things that only the most inquisitive beauty lovers tried to products that we all buy in bulk.

It’s not just our love affair with K-beauty that has moved quickly. Korean skin care moves at jet speed with innovations coming out every few weeks. One minute we are learning about sheet mask mistakes and ampoules and the next we are discovering pressed serums and exfoliating pads. It’s these innovations that keep us coming back for more.

For those who are addicted to the latest Korean beauty and want to know the newest breakthroughs, we asked the experts about the trends and products that will soon be on everyone’s radar.

The worst aspect of living in any big city is all of the roaches that you will inevitably encounter. Roaches are not beloved creatures, but the world has many different species of cockroach crawling around, and not all of them are out to eat the leftovers in your sink, or catch a juicy glimpse in your shower. Unlike many of the roaches that you find in the big city, some roach species are not drawn to urban areas. Believe it or not, there are some types of roaches that are content in the wild, and not only that, but some roaches can even pollinate flowers. And you thought that only pretty and majestic-looking insects pollinated flowers.

As it turns out, the existence of roaches is more important to the world than keeping exterminators employed. For example, ninety nine percent of the worlds forty five hundred different species of cockroach thrive in wild regions, such as rainforests and even deserts. Most roaches are not pests at all, but are actually valuable members of various ecosystems. But, however valuable some roaches may be to the environments in which they thrive, it is rare to find a roach that pollinates plants, but the Moluchia brevipennis does just that. These roaches are native to central Chile’s scrublands, and they are often found on the tops of flowers.

Roaches that are capable of pollination are extremely rare. At this time there are only two types of roaches that have been observed pollinating plants. One of these roach species is found in French Guiana, and the other is found in Malaysian Borneo. Between the years of 2000 and 2016, there have only been one hundred and seventy eight studies that focused on one of these pollinating roaches. This is compared the tens of thousands of studies conducted on bees or ants in that same amount of time. As of now, these pollinating roaches are understudied, but it is nice to know that some roaches are good for something.

Do you know of any other types of insects that can pollinate flowers, but people would never guess so?

The “Treasure Trail” in Squamish, Canada is considered a very technical mountain biking route, and definitely not for beginners. In this video we get a first-person look at what it like to ride this wild trail as we join pro rider Richie Schley and friends as they test their skills on a path that includes big drops and plenty of narrow, twisty singletrack. It looks like a lot of fun, although I’m…

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When two teenagers started exchanging text messages, they probably didn’t expect them to be read by anybody but themselves.

But after the string of texts led to the one teen’s suicide, months worth of deeply disturbing messages are now being aired publicly in a Massachusetts courtroom.

Michelle Carter, 20, is charged with involuntary manslaughter after sending hundreds of texts that the prosecution says encouraged her 17-year-old boyfriend Conrad Roy III to kill himself in 2014. It will be up to a judge to determine whether she is legally responsible for his death by the end of this week.

Here is the chain of events that led up to the trial:

In 2012, Carter and Roy were both teenagers when they met while taking family vacations in Florida. Both lived in Massachusetts and, at the end of their holiday, started talking to each other over Facebook and text.

In October 2012, Roy’s parents divorced and he attempted to commit suicide. Court evidence found that Roy had been both physically and verbally abused and once referred to himself as “no-good trash” and “an abortion.”

While Carter also struggled with body image and severe anxiety, court experts described her as more positive than Roy. She would regularly listen to him as he shared his worries. In 2014, she wrote to a friend that she was “kinda going thru my own stuff but if I leave him he will probably kill himself and it would be all my fault.”

By July 2014, Carter switched from taking Prozac to Celexa for her anxiety and, according to a court psychiatrist, also shifted in her communications with Roy. “She’s thinking it’s a good thing to help him die,” psychiatrist Peter R. Breggin told The New York Times.

In the two weeks before Roy killed himself, Carter continued to send him lengthy texts. In one, she told him that he was strong enough to go along with it while adding that “everyone will be sad for a while but they will get over it and move on.”

Carter even wrote Roy possibilities of how he could kill himself, writing one could “hang yourself, jump off a building, stab yourself idk there’s a lot of ways.”

On July 10, Carter started texting Roy about how he could use the car generator of his pickup truck to commit suicide. At the same time, she was texting her friends that Roy had gone missing while still talking to him.

In the next two days, Carter would send Roy multiple texts saying he “just had to do it” and spoke to him by phone before texting another friend that Roy had gotten out of the car because he got scared and she “told him to get back in.”